After thinking about it for a while, I've finally bought a new bike! Hooray, now I can start being active in a way that doesn't make me want to gouge my eyes out. No really, exercising because you know you should isn't very exciting, and who says you can't enjoy it?

The last bike I bought was wayyy back in... 2004, a mountain bike that got stolen when our house got broken into - and was (suprisingly) recovered by the police in Mirrabooka, complete with damage to the rear rim, shifters and a few other things - fixing it up was going to cost a few hundred and why not get a new bike suitable for where I'd now be riding.

Enter shiney new road bike, and a bunch of accessories meaning I can actually use the bastard.

I've also already bought a set of replacement pedals with mountain bike cleats, so once I've got some skate style shoes with cleats I can ninja on and off the bike without a wardrobe change. Impressive, huh? :)

However, let it be known that I'm well aware bicycles are the gateway drug to faggy bike pants and other assorted lycra products. I pledge to you all here that I will not go down this dark and dangerous place!

Anyway, enough of that - I'm going to go for the first ride on the new bike (and first ride on a proper bike in a number of years).

... it's so cold outside *pout*

Whilst carefully evaluating a number of the proprieters of fermented goods at the local Good Food & Wine expo, or rather - trolling for tastings, I came across the booth for Stone's, a popular european brand of ginger based goosd - most notably their ginger wine.

If you haven't sampled their mouth candy, you must. Their alcoholic ginger beer and ginger wine is worth it - and I'm sure I'll be a regular buyer - once I find a bottle shop that stocks it nearby.

In the meantime though, I thought I'd give it a go for myself. Of course I did.

Well, it turns out there aren't that many recipes to be found. Of the several recipes I looked at, exactly zero of them used all the ingredients they specify - and don't inspire confidence. So in my usual tradition - I decided to wing it.

So, here's my recipe for ginger wine, complete with exact measurements:

• 1 big-ass bit of ginger, thinly sliced
• 1.5ish kg of white sugar
• 2 lemons, zested and juiced
• 2 oranges, juiced

1. Boil up about 2.5L of water in a saucepan, add ginger and lemon zest.
2. Simmer for 15 minutes.
3. Drain off juice into a second saucepan.
4. Bring ginger and another 2.5L of water to the boil in the saucepan.
5. Whilst the first saucepan is coming to the boil, heat the second and stir in all the sugar until it dissolved, then remove from heat.
6. Drain off the ginger and put the liquid into the first saucepan, stir.
7. Cover with a teatowel and stand for 12 hours.
8. Warm the juice up a little bit and add some activated wine yeast
9. Covering with a teatowel, stir twice a day for 3-5 days
10. Strain the liquid into a demijon with an airlock.
11. After twelve weeks of fermentation, rack every 3-4 months until it is has been going for 12 months.
12. Bottle and enjoy.

As I write, I'm only up to stage 7, so pretend I've got a bottle of Stone's, with a fresh linen covering the label - some I prepared earlier.

Updates as they come - I can't wait :)

It seems that turning 25 has put a bit of fire in my belly. Actually no, that's not true. I think that recently I've hit a point where I've realised I have spent a lot of my short adult life pandering to other people.

If you wind back the clock, as many as five or ten years - I was a lot more intellectually stimulated than I am today. Programming, digital art, design and whatnot coming out the wazoo.

These days, not so much. That's partly because I'm a little bit OCD and like to make everything perfect beyond practicality (and, not unsuprisingly past motivation) - so much so that I've backed off to avoid the stigma of not following through on things.

Get fucked, I love tinkering! So I've got other things on these days, but there are some long standing things I've been wanting to do for ages - but probably the most prominent is fixing up this site.

Back in the day I wouldn't have been caught dead with an off-the-shelf website look, but for the last five years I've been rocking it hard. I've got a plethora of designs for this site I've done over the years that have never seen the light of day.

And it's not because other people read this. This site is my muse. That's right, I said it: my muse. It might sound wanky but it's where I yell into the universe from about what I'm doing and how pleased I feel with myself for having done it.

... and if you consider yourself a creative person, as I do - stock templates just don't cut it.

Now I've been using this site more heavily on the projects I do manage to get around to (wine, spirits, cheese, tech stuff, etc) - I've got a much better idea on what kind of things I want to be sharing on here and how I want to present it.

Step 1: Get rid of the white-on-black. I hated it 10 years ago and I hate it still. Check and done. It's a template but I'm happier with it than I was with the old one.

Step 2: Get inspired

Step 3: Profit ;)